A few good notes

Either you think

positive

‘bout yourself

Either you think

negative

‘bout yourself

Either way

you’re right

It’s how you see

yourself

That’s how the outcome

will be

So, keep thinking!

Think!

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The world is looking a lot smaller because the Internet connects people and businesses around the world to eachother. The use of a computer is becoming part of our life, just as the telephone did. And having a computer goes hand in hand with being connected to the Internet.

Suriname seems to be a decade behind these developments. now we are at the point where people are starting to understand the good use of a computer. More companies and households use computers nowadays. But the awareness of the power of the Internet still needs a lot of work. A lot of people talk about how important the Internet is. But maybe the local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be partially blamed for not giving the Internet the place in society that it should have.

Our options
We have 2 ISPs in Suriname. One is Telesur, a government owned company and the other is CQ-Link. Telesur actually has the the telecom monopoly in Suriname, but CQ-Link found a way to bypass that monopoly and provide Internet services. After that it has been made impossible for anyone else to start an ISP.

Telesur offers 2 types of Internet connection to the regular consumer: Dialup and ADSL.

• Dialup: This connection type has no setup fees. There is a monthly fee of US$15, plus you pay for the time you spend using your telephone line. Of course this connection is limited to a maximum of 56KBit/sec.
• ADSL: This connection type requires a total of US$315 to set up. In this price the purchase of a modem is covered. This modem, however, is protected by Telesur, so there is virtually nothing a customer can do with the modem. Then there is a monthly fee of US$55 for their smallest package that provides the consumer with an up/down maximum connection of 128KB/64KB. There are other, more expensive packages. The corporate user for instance will pay a lot more for a basic package, because these accounts are in a smaller pool of users, and they get a free .sr domain name and hosting.

CQ-Link also offers dialup connections but is left to use wireless technology for broadband. Telesur will not license them to use the existing infrastructure for cables services.

Because of these high prices, considering that an average person gets a salary of about US$150 a month, people don’t get themselves a connection to the Internet. The Internet Cafés do offer a way out, and they do provide a great services, but even they are limited by what the ISPs have to offer. But leaving the home to visit such an Internet café presents other limitations, so Internet is used a lot less then it should.

Hope
Our ministry of Transport, Communication and Tourism (yes, I know, a weird combination of responsibilities) is now working on the liberation of the telecom sector. This liberation was promised to be in effect as of January 1 2005, but it’s still not done. 2 new companies have already done everything for their part, but we are waiting for the government to make their move.

Even though these new companies will mainly focus on mobile technology (probably without Internet), this gives us hope that in the not too distant future we will also have some relieve when it comes to using the Internet.

PS: now when I need to submit this article, it looks like the DNS servers of Telesur are down again! Karma?

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Suriname is a country with very warm people. There is such diversity in people here.

Most of the ethnic groups created communities and stayed there with their family. It’s not until the last century that the ethnic groups started to mix. Black/Native Indian and Indian/Indonesian were the first mixes to rise. Well, I mean aside from the white slave owners who were mixing with the black slave girls. Before you know it, everyone started mixing.

One thing that is very unique in Suriname is the hospitality. It is very normal to visit someone and be invited inside to enjoy a meal together. There is some ethnic discrimination, but compared to most parts of the world, it’s negligible.

Holidays, cultural food and traditions are shared among the races. Almost everyone eats what the others cook. Religious holidays are celebrated by everyone. Even though there are quarrels here and there so now and then, the Surinamese people have a strong bond when it comes to their country.

1 week in Paramaribo will teach you so much about cultures from around the globe. One more reason why Suriname is a very good choice for vacation.

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As was promised 2 weeks ago, the leader of the revolution in Suriname, Desi Bouterse, continued the informational discussion with the youth, to enlighten them about events as they happened.

In a recap of about 2 hours, the most important issues were recalled, just tom make sure everyone knew where we left off, but to paint the large picture for those who did not visit the prior meeting.

The black page
Every revolution has its casualties. But on December 8, 1982 15 men were shot “as they tried to escape”. According to Bouterse, a lot of high class figures didn’t like the way things were going in this country. Understandable, he says, because now Suriname was producing with about 80 new production companies, so there was less need to import. We made our own dinner plates, drinking glasses, saucers, etc in our own glass factory, so those who used to import these items were not happy, because they lost a lot of revenue. And the same happened with all the other types of production. These importers, among others, didn’t like this fact and tried to do something about it. There were a couple of anti-coupes to try to get rid of this “military dictatorship”. Even the outside governments, including the Netherlands and the USA, who were happy with the 1980 revolution, were starting to turn against the military, because, again as Bouterse says, they noticed that these guys were not to be bought and they put the interest of the people before making western societies happy.

In 1982 the CIA was planning to help the local “elites” to take control of the country. Bouterse says that the military had a moll in those CIA cells that were operating here, Fred Derby, who would keep them informed about the plans of the CIA. So they already had everyone who they needed to imprison in sight. The only discussion was about what to do with these guys, once they were captured. When the president left the country, the CIA had planned to strike. So the military did not wait any longer and captured some prominent figures of that group.

As Bouterse continues to explain, they were brought in on the night of December 6 going on December 7at Fort Zeelandia the morning he was commander on duty. When he left that afternoon and another commander took over, the men were still alive. He later heard that the 15 men were “shot while trying to escape”. He did not believe that so he asked the Procurator-General (PG) at once to do an investigation about the real events that took place.

This PG did investigate, and wrote a report, of which 2 copies were made. One was kept by the PG, one was filed, and one was stored in a safe at the Surinaamsche Bank. For some reason, all 3 copies disappeared and now no one can tell exactly what happened.

Apologies
Bouterse apologized to the families of those who were killed and said that this was one of the worst days in the history of Suriname. But he also mentioned that there were more than 80 soldiers and more than 500 citizens killed during the “terrorist attacks” in 1986, but no one seems to care about these people. They keep mentioning the 15 that were killed in 1982, because they can use it to break any opposition during the elections. “Please, let these people mourned their deaths and leave it be” he urged.

Misinformation
It was clear that the youth was misinformed about the history. Some thought all the events related to the military regime happened within a couple of months time. one of the girls asked why people were frustrating them with a lot of lies, because some “history writer” brought some literature to the schools where is written for instance that Derby fled, so he was not killed. Bouterse emphasized that that is why he called them, to hear things from him in person.

Conclusion
The above is a summary what was said yesterday. To me it was very clear that this country was supposed to go in the right direction, but that there were people who could not see this happen, because, as a Dutch saying goes, “in turbid water it’s easy to catch fish”.

Bouterse seemed evasive about talking about the content of the report produced by the PG. Even though he says he did not pull any trigger in this case, he takes the political responsibility upon himself.

Because of the lack of time, there were promises made for another meeting, because Bouterse thinks it is very important that the youth knows about the terrorist activities that took place around 1986. Important, because the leader of that terrorist group has been pardoned by the current president to be able to form a coalition, and is member of our current parliament.

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Today we had some sun, but for the most part of the day we had rain. Even though this rain is not as cold and irritating as most rain is on the northern hemisphere, it will get you wet. So we do need the rain, but we don’t always like it when it’s here.

Climate
Suriname lies a little north off the equator, so we have humid tropical weather here. We have 4 seasons: 2 dry seasons and 2 rainy (wet) seasons. From February to April we have a short dry season, from April to August a long rainy season, from August to November the long dry season and from November to February the short rainy season. Very important note is that these seasons are never completely dry or rainy.

Suriname is outside what is known as “the hurricane zone”. We don’t know tornado’s and hurricanes here. The “sibi busi” (sibi = broom, busi = literally bush, forest) is the heaviest rainfall combined with winds we know here.

Temperature
The temperature in Suriname varies somewhere between 20 and 34 degrees Celsius. The best weather for visiting Suriname will be during the long dry season between August and November.

It’s always funny to think about how we here are freezing our butts off when we reach temperatures of 18 degrees. But make no mistake, a lot of visitors adapt to the weather really fast, and even they get uncomfortable with the “cold”, especially when they have been sweating in temperatures of 28 degrees all day long.

For a lot of visitors the climate alone is enough to convince them to come and relax here during the winter. But that’s not all Suriname has to offer. However, I don’t think you expect me to write that all in one post! And even if you did, I will leave some more for some other time.

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In the past week I have been concentrating on a lot of my work and setting up and promoting this blog. I didn’t have the chance to look for some nice topics about Suriname to write about.

I did promise I would write about Suriname as soon as I read something or something came to mind. But lately there is a lot of negativity coming from the government. Sometimes the president makes deals with multinationals where only the multinational (and probably the president himself) benefit from. Yesterday the whole country was shocked to hear that one of our ministers organized her birthday celebration with more than SRD 36.000,= (more than US$ 12.000,=) which was taken out of the government money.

So right now, in all fairness, I won’t be able to supply you with positive information. But I do promise that it will be here soon, and when it will be here, you will get more than you can handle.

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Suriname is one of the countries where Phagwah is celebrated. Wikipedia has the following information about this festival:

Holi (Hindi: होली) or Phagwah (Bhojpuri) is an annual and popular Hindu spring festival. It takes place over two days in the later part of February or early March. As per the Hindu calendar, it falls on the Phalgun Purnima (or Pooranmashi, Full Moon). It is also called the Festival of Colours. In West Bengal, it is known as Dolyatra (Doljatra) or Boshonto Utshob (”spring festival”).

On the first day, a bonfire is lit at night to signify burning Holika. On the second day, known as Dhulandi, people go around until afternoon throwing colored powder and water at each other. A special drink called thandai is prepared, sometimes containing bhang (Cannabis sativa). People invite each other to their houses for feasts and celebrations later in the evening. Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.

This festival occurs at the onset of spring. This period, during which the weather changes, is prone to cause viral fever and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of the coloured powders has a medicinal significance as the coloured powders are made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Āyurvedic doctors.

In 2007, Holi was celebrated on 3 March, the burning of Holika was on 4 March and the Dhuleti on 5 March.

Although a Hindu celebration, other religions in India celebrate it as well. In fact, some of the best Holi celebrations are said to happen in Punjab, where Hindus and Sikhs celebrate together. This celebration in Punjab typically involves Dholi’s and other musical instruments as kids and adults celebrate.

Here in Suriname other religions also celebrate Phagwah as if it was their own.

I was told that this year the burning of Holika was delayed a little because the moon eclipse occurred here in Paramaribo around the time the bonfire is usually lit.

Yesterday we were invited to celebrate Phagwah with one of the coworkers of Barbara, my wife. We were greeted with powder and colored mud. First Barbara got powdered


Now THIS is the woman I wanted to marry
Well, I didn’t look that bad either

As was said in the long exciting conversation we had, Phagwah should be more widely celebrated, but a lot of people don’t know the meaning of most of the rituals and just participate because it’s fun. On the other hand, because they don’t know why the colored powder and water is used, they don’t want to get “dirty”.

We got some roti to eat. They had planned to cook masala (curry) duck to serve with the roti, but we had masala chicken. They did have a lot of ducks running around though. Roti is eaten by hand, no utensils involved. I can not imagine people eating roti with fork and knife.

By the end of the afternoon we were dropped off at home. We would probably not be welcome to ride in a local bus. Since the daughters were coming to the city to go to a celebration party. Barbara and I raced each other to the bathroom to take a shower, but we paused in front of the mirror for a second to see what we looked like:

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It was 27 years ago, last Sunday, that we had a revolution here in Suriname. From 1980 until 1986, the military had the country in it’s hand. But for some reason there are a lot of teenagers and adolescents who think that the events took place in a time span of 4 weeks.. This I was later told by one of the board members of the National Democratic Party (NDP), of which the leader of the revolution, Desire Delano Bouterse, is the chairman. The NDP chairman could not stand the fact that the youth, the future of this country, was so misinformed about the chronology of the events. He invited youngsters to a meeting/discussion, where he would explain what happened, when it happened and why it happened. He also stressed that this day would be a day for the youth, because they would be given the chance to ask ANYTHING. Read the rest of this entry »

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Let’s continue where we left off on our tour through Paramaribo.

Here I will just type some text to make the intro on the home page look a little longer than 1 sentence. I just want to keep the pictures from the home page. Do you think this is enough text to look like a normal teaser?

OK, OK, enough of this, just click on the link below (the one that says “Read the rest of this entry »”) to read the rest of the story (DUH!) and to see the pictures.

Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ve decided to put the pictures in a separate entry. This way I can… man I don’t really know why it’s better, I just did it! Read the rest of this entry »

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